Therapy Goes For a Ride

Sunday was a cloudy but warm day and Therapy was raring to get out of her corral and hit the road.  After a stop at Subway for some picnic sandwiches, we headed south on I-5 towards Cottage Grove.  This small scenic town is about 20 miles or so from Eugene and just out of town to the east is Dorena Lake.  It’s a reservoir really, but everyone calls it a lake.  The lake is fed by the Row (rhymes with “cow”) River.  There is a wonderful walking and biking trail all around the lake.

We stopped on the north side of the lake first.  I was amazed at how low the water was.  The reservoir is drawn down for flood control but I had never seen it this low.  In the summer, all of that exposed area is covered with water.


One advantage of the low water was this sighting of the rare and elusive Oregon Alligator!




We also noted these strange holes in the bank of the river.  Does anyone have any idea what these could be?  Russ thinks the holes are made by some kind of bird.  I have no idea.



We drove clear around the lake to the south shore where there is a county park, Baker Bay.  This area contains a campground (no hook-ups), boating facilities, concessions, and a large picnic area.  This is a popular area in the summer but everything was closed for the winter except for a small parking lot.  We parked Therapy and had our picnic.









I could not believe that someone would actually back WAAAY down the boat ramp onto the mud to get their boat into the water.  They say this lake is a premier catfishing area but I don’t think I would take a chance.  Look close and you can see the boat in the upper third of the photo. 



We used to take our boat out on this lake when the kids were little.   Sometimes we would fish or sit and eat sandwiches, but mostly the kids wanted to ski or knee board.  One time we were getting ready to take off after we had taken a time out for lunch.  The boat was struggling to get going and Russ just kept giving it more power trying to get going.  It finally took off and at that point a broken rope started flapping around on the surface of the water.  Somewhere at the bottom of this lake lies our lost boat anchor!  Here’s a short video clip of John kneeboarding on Dorena about 30 years ago!



I wonder what this airplane was doing out here? 






We didn’t see him land so not sure what was going on.

We had a great day and Therapy got a much needed run.    Looks like the weather is not going to be that great the rest of the week so we’re glad we got out and about for a little while.   It was a good day.